Friday, June 12, 2009

Yaakov Shwekey makes the NY Times?

We all know Yaakov Shwekey is one of the most well known figures in Hasidic Jewish Music. Shwekey name is now plastered all over the news but not just because he's a JM music star. Shwekey got his name mentioned in connection with a serious story that has made NY Times.The city is trying to figure out how an inmate, Tuvia Stern, a former fugitive who was facing charges that he stole $1.7 million, held the six-hour kosher-catered party in December in the gymnasium of the Manhattan Detention Complex, apparently with the knowledge of two Correction Department chiefs and the jail’s warden, city correction officials said Thursday.Guess who the entertainment was..you guessed it Shwekey! I guess when you are making a living you don't ask who is writing the check? I guess his Rabbi said it was ok to perform for a fugitive who stole lots of money? After all it's parnasah.... Update: Life-of-Rubin brings the NY Post stating that Shwekey performed for free! That is even more bizzare as far as I'm conserned.You think this fellow Stern should be getting anything for free after stealing 1.7million? I'm not sure this story sits well with me...sorry guys.

Not to be cynical but it is in his own interest to claim "I did it for free." Regardless, it was absolutely wrong to get involved in such an immoral ceremony. A bar mitzvah at a church would be forbidden, but at a jail it's fine? Accepting the yoke of heaven in the hovel of murderers and thieves? As for not judging other, that is so utterly ridiculous that I need not bring any logical argument to refute such an inane and sanctimonious moralism.